Leading Pakistani newspapers, which had published fake WikiLeaks cables attacking the Indian Army for false propaganda, have acknowledged that their reports were unauthentic. The Express Tribune published an apology over its fake report -- WikiLeaks: What US officials think about the Indian Army -- saying that the story was not authentic, and it deeply regrets publishing this story without due verification and apologises profusely for any inconvenience caused to its valued readers.
The News admitted that the story filed by a news agency about purported WikiLeaks cables disclosing India's involvement in Balochistan and Waziristan, carried by them, Daily Jang and many other Pakistani newspapers, has been widely criticised as not being accurate. "The story was released by a Islamabad-based online news agency and was run by us and Daily Jang with the confidence that it was a genuine report and must have been vetted before release. However, several inquiries suggest that this was not the case," the paper added.
It said that when contacted, the owner of the agency, Mohsin Baig, and some of the editorial staff were "themselves unclear about the source of the story and said they would investigate the matter at their end."
"On further inquiries, we learnt from our sources that the story was dubious and may have been planted," The News conceded.
The whistle blower website WikiLeaks is being exploited for propaganda purposes against India by Pakistani newspapers, which have published fake cables attacking the Indian Army.
Citing the WikiLeaks cables, major Pakistani newspapers on Thursday morning carried stories that purported to detail eye-popping American assessments of India's military and civilian leaders, the Guardian reported.
According to the reports, US diplomats described senior Indian generals as vain, egotistical and genocidal, said that the Indian government is secretly allied with Hindu fundamentalists, and also claimed that Indian spies are covertly supporting Islamist militants in Pakistan's tribal belt and Balochistan.
However, an extensive search of the WikiLeaks database by the Guardian by date, name and keyword failed to locate any of the incendiary allegations, suggesting that this is the first case of WikiLeaks being exploited for propaganda purposes.
